Amitriptyline Poisoning

Abstract

THE list of therapeutic agents employed in the field of psychopharmacology is an imposing one. There have been reports of toxic reactions to many of these drugs, and, in 1959, the Boston Poison Information Center received 106 telephone calls regarding their ingestion either accidentally or with suicidal intentions. Among medications only acetylsalicylic acid was responsible for more calls.At the time of this writing 4 cases of poisoning related to the ingestion of a recently introduced antidepressant, amitriptyline, have been reported.¹ One of them involved a fifteen-month-old girl who died after the ingestion of approximately 50 25-mg. tablets (1250 mg.). . . .